Last Sunset
by JoeMerl
Summary: You can make the best of even the worst situations-especially if you have someone there to help you through it. Gwen/Cody, one-shot.


"You know, there are _so_ many better things we should be doing right now," Gwen said, a frown on her face that did little to show the _insane_ amount of worry that she was repressing at the moment.

"Yeah." Cody nodded, looking more thoughtful than she had ever seen him before, and a lot calmer than she would have expected, given the circumstances. "But then, there's nothing else we _can_ do, is there? I mean...we're sort of stuck here." He spread his arms out to encompass the wide rooftop, completely empty except for the two of them.

Gwen had to admit, he had a point there. She took her sketchbook out of her pocket, but couldn't find anything else in there. She frowned. "Crap. I don't even have a—"

A pencil suddenly appeared in her line of sight, held out between Cody's fingers. Gwen took it; their hands briefly touched, and she silently noted how sweaty his were, however insouciant he was trying to act. Despite herself, Gwen looked up at him and smiled. "Well, aren't you handy?"

He sat down on the concrete rooftop Indian style, a slight smirk twitching across his face. "Yeah. Only thing I seem to have that we can actually _use_ right now, though."

"Better than nothing. I guess..."

Gwen frowned as she said those last words, and Cody's face fell at the sight of it too. Then she sighed, flipping open her sketchbook as she sat down. The first ten pages or so were either used, wet, dirty or some combination of the above; settling on the first clean sheet she found, Gwen paused and tapped the pencil against her lip, looking off toward the horizon.

"Wow...the sunset really is beautiful from up here, isn't it?" she murmured.

Cody nodded. "Yeah. We got a great view, at least. I feel sorry that nobody else got up here."

"For more than one reason..."

Gwen stared toward the west for a long moment, then tore her eyes away, taking a deep breath as she put pencil to paper. "Though to be honest, I wish some of the other scenery was better," she muttered, beginning her sketch. "In my head I sort of saw myself doing this in a forest or a mountaintop somewhere, not somewhere like..._here._"

"Well, it's the sunset you're drawing, right? Just try to ignore that other stuff." Cody suddenly chuckled. "Heh, just imagine that we're on the clifftop of Camp Wawanakwa."

"_Ugh,_ isn't our situation bad _enough?_" Gwen joked, rolling her eyes.

Gwen was working slowly; the pencil kept slipping between her sweaty, shaking fingers, and several times she thought of just throwing it and the notepad away, along with this whole _stupid _idea, but her frustration was bottled up in the same place as her terror—she didn't think she could let one out without releasing the other too. She forced herself to continue, each line a willful order for herself to stay calm. She closed her mind off to fear, or to the sounds of the city around her—much quieter than they would have been normally, almost eerily so, but replaced by a new chorus of distant explosions, car alarms and screams.

She was only half-aware of Cody as he inched himself toward her, finally near enough that he watch her progress over her shoulder. "Wow, that looks great. I like what you did there, with the...light on the water, I guess?"

Gwen scoffed. "Please. I'd be doing a lot better if I wasn't so nervous..."

"Well, it looks okay to me."

"You're too kind. Or just have _really _low standards."

"Well, I'm not really good at art like you are," he admitted, smiling playfully. He turned back to her drawing, and his grin faded back to his previous pensive look. "I mean it, though. I'm surprised you can even make it _look _like a sunset...you'd think you'd need color for that or something."

"Yeah...pictures like this don't really seem to be worth it if it's just black and white." Gwen suddenly laughed; it sounded odd, not exactly forced but unnatural, jittery. "I doubt I'll ever get a chance to color it, though...but if I do I don't care _how _bad it is, I could probably sell it to an art gallery for millions, given the circumstances..."

The sun dipped lower as Cody continued to watch her work, staring at her hands as if transfixed. The air was getting cooler now; Gwen shivered as a cool breeze blew by, and Cody drew closer to her, his hands resting on her sides, his torn sweater pressed against the back of her dress. She wondered vaguely if he was just looking for an excuse to cuddle up with her—still the "ladies' man," even now?—but quickly decided she didn't really care; it felt nice.

The sun was halfway down when Gwen finally dropped her arms, another weary sigh escaping her lips. "Finished."

"You sure?"

She nodded. "For what it's worth."

"May I...?"

Cody's hands left Gwen's sides; to her own surprise she wished they hadn't, as she suddenly felt strangely cold and alone. Nevertheless she held out her sketchbook, relinquishing it into Cody's outstretched hand. He leaned back a bit and stared at the picture, his expression unreadable.

Gwen waited in silence for a minute, then rolled her eyes. "Whuddya think?" She tried to force sarcasm into her voice, but for some reason she really wanted to know what he thought.

Cody's mouth curved up into a small, bright smile that made him look even more like a happy little kid. "I think it looks great! I mean...like I said, I don't know a lot about art, but...I don't know, your picture's even better than the real thing."

She took the sketchbook back, giving a wry, bittersweet smile. "Please. I don't think you _can_ make a picture that's better than the real thing," she said softly.

"_You_ can," Cody whispered, scooting closer to her again and wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "Heck...you even managed to make all _this_ look good."

He motioned toward the western horizon, and to all of the destruction that the golden sunlight had settled on—the smashed buildings, the huge, smoking fires, the enormous craters in the middle of the street, rapidly filling with water as the Toronto Harbor overflowed into the city, carrying cars and (though they thankfully couldn't see them anymore from up here) dead bodies in its wake. The flood had already engulfed the bottom floor of the skyscraper they were hiding on—there was no way out for them that way, unless someone came by with a boat or something. To the east the sky was already thick and black, though whether that darkness was smoke or clouds or something _else_ was impossible for either of them to determine.

Gwen stared at it all, and without thinking she drew closer to Cody again, and was relieved when his arm closed protectively across her body, a puny but welcome barrier against the crumbling world around them. Part of her wanted to laugh—she felt like a little kid right now, desperate for someone bigger and stronger (or, to be even more bluntly honest, shorter and weaker) to hold her and keep her safe. It felt nicer than she wanted to admit.

"Do you really think my picture's any good?" Gwen whispered. It was hardly an important question, but it _seemed _important to her.

"It's the second most beautiful thing I can see from up here."

"I thought you said—" She turned to him, and it was the goofy little smirk on his face that told her what he meant. She blushed despite herself, looking partially away. Cody's grin only grew wider, and he drew her closer to him, feeling just as safe with her there as she felt with him.

Cody kept his eyes on Gwen, and after a moment she looked back at him. His gap-toothed grin really did augment his already boyish face, but for once he didn't look like a child to Gwen—his eyes were bright and happy but also calm and thoughtful, and the dying sunlight gave his skin a bronze glow that obscured the dried sweat, dirt and blood he had acquired on their journey up here.

Cody, for his part, was marveling at the golden glow that same sunlight was giving to her ivory face, and how it made her hair look shiny and beautiful despite how disheveled and dirty he knew it really was.

The two half-consciously leaned closer to each other, their eyes locked, and after the slightest hesitation they pressed their lips together. The kiss was gentle yet intense, and seemed to instantly break them both out of their reveries—Cody felt like a jolt of energy suddenly shot through his body, his mind suddenly shocked as it realized what was going on. He took Gwen's face in his free hand, brushing his fingers through her hair and easily ignoring how stiff and grimy it had become. She leaned forward and deepened the kiss, pressing herself closer to him and making him feel dizzy and manic.

The whole thing only lasted a few seconds, but when they drew apart Cody was already out of breath, his heart racing. Another silly little grin spread across his face a moment later.

"_Wow..._" he breathed. Gwen blushed again, felt foolish again, then turned back towards the destruction and the sunset as Cody's arm tighten around her stomach. There was another long pause.

"Hey, Gwen?"

"Yeah?" She felt a twinge or worry, wondering if the next thing he said was going to make her regret that kiss.

"Even though I said...I mean, the sketch, but...you don't..._really_ think this is gonna be the last sunset..._ever_...do you?"

Cody's voice became very small as he said this. Gwen turned, startled; the last golden rays of sunset were turning to gray twilight on his face, and suddenly the confident Cody was gone, replaced by another pale, nervous teenager who looked just as scared as Gwen felt deep in the pit of her stomach. Gwen was suddenly aware of the fact that his arm was trembling against her body; she clasped her own hand around his wrist and the shaking lessened, if only by a little.

Gwen's eyes drifted away for a moment, settling on the black clouds (or whatever they were) in the east; how long until they engulfed the sky entirely? She couldn't be sure; at the very least, she couldn't be sure _they_ would be there for another sunset. She turned back to him.

"I don't know," Gwen whispered, her dark, unreadable eyes making contact with his scared blue ones. Her hand tightened around her sketchbook, drawing it closer to them both. He gave a weary smile. "But even if it is...I have to admit, Cody, I'm sort of glad we got to watch it together."

Cody blushed, hoping that Gwen wouldn't notice in the dim light. Then, in another moment of fearful boldness, he leaned down and kissed her again, slowly turning his body around to face her and letting his arm drift from her stomach to press against her back. Gwen returned the kiss, sliding her hands over his shoulders, one traveling upward to the back of his head.

Meanwhile, off in the distance, the last gray rays of sunset faded beneath the horizon.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** ...And then, while they're making out (or something more), Izzy flies by in a spaceship and rescues them. XD Or maybe something better that I'll write later.

It's Day 3 of _Total Drama_ Crack and Fanon Week 2010 on Deviantart; today's theme was OTPs/OT3s, which was slightly problematic since I have several pairings that could vie for that coveted spot. Cody/Gwen is the one I've written the most, though, and I'm doing my other usual choice (Ezekiel/Bridgette) later in the week anyway.

In case you don't get this: the official TDWT site has profiles for the contestants, written as a set of questions that they answer. (The site can only be accessed in Canada, but the profiles can be found in the "Total Drama Online" article of the Total Drama Island Wiki.) One of the questions is **"It's the last day on earth. In five words or less, what would you do?"** Most of the answers are funny, but Gwen's is actually touching: "_Sketch the last sunset._"

Cody's, of course, was "_Make a pass at Gwen._" ;-D So yeah, they both got their requests here.

And no, I don't know exactly what's happening in this fic; you can decide for yourself. I just hope it came off as emotional, ominous and IC despite the unusual situation and style. Please tell me what you think, including any tips to improve, and I hope you enjoyed this!


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